Way back in 2004 the Defense Department came out with a “think piece” (PDF document) warning of dire geopolitical consequences of the effects of climate change. At the time the report’s conclusions, that global climate change was real and most likely caused by humans, was utterly at odds with the Bush administration’s line on the issue and the report was suppressed, gaining only a bit of coverage in the actual liberal media.
Facts being stubborn things, those conclusions could not be ignored forever and as more mature hands took charge, climate change was officially included as a security threat in the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review. The QDR concludes that changing weather patterns “may act as an accelerant of instability or conflict, placing a burden to respond on civilian institutions and militaries around the world.”
Aerial view of flooding in Pakistan's Nowshera district. (AFP via news.com.au)
Whether the cause is global warming or not, more weather-driven disruptions are occurring, such as drought-driven wildfires in Russia and a recent drought in Mexico that may add millions to the numbers seeking to immigrate to the US.
Despite the localized chilly weather last winter, 2010 is going to be the hottest year ever all over the world. Whether one wants to believe in global warming or not and whether one thinks that it is driven by human activity or not is becoming increasingly irrelevant. Sure, a stalwart skeptic might say, “This is just a bad year.” Or, “Globalized media just means that we hear about all the little things where before they might not have made the news.”
Hancher Auditorium in Iowa City was flooded out in 2008 and has been condemned. (Photo: Lisa Peperkorn)
Mmkay. But what happens if it happens again next year and the next? This is the third year in a row we have had major flooding on several Iowa rivers. Places where there were once parks, housing and commercial development on the banks of the Raccoon River in Des Moines and the Iowa River in Iowa City are now basically unusable flood plains. The facts on the ground are getting pretty hard to ignore.
